#60threwatch

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

you know that thing when you hang around your friends long enough you start to pick up their speech patterns?

#dw #im finally getting some respite from irl stuff so hopefully i can churn out a couple more s1 analysis(es) + finish s4 soon #if i dont get to watch the christmas special live either im gonna cry ngl sldkjffdfsklfdj #60threwatch

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

Whatever you do on Doctor Who, whatever technology or futurism you're putting on on screen, it's always going to look like it was made now. And it should, you know. Science fiction in the sixties looks like it was made in the sixties - seventies, eighties. The worst and most stupid thing you can do is got into a meeting and say "Let's make it timeless!".

For a start, why? I think these programs are a record of the era in which they were made. And they should be. You should show that off. Plus, you can't fight it. That will creep it in aywhere. There's not such thing as a timeless design, ever.

I think we have to celebrate that.

RTD - DW Confidential - s03e07

#RTD #doctor who #dw #60threwatch #dw meta #speaking of architecture this has always been a bit debate in the area #im not sure i agree with the notion completely #i do think certain designs get really close to 'timelessness' ... while also being a reflection of their times... #but anyway i wanted to post this quote separately cause it reminded me of ppl calling the new tardis 'minimalist' and 'clinical' #i do think this is a classic moment of rtd being hyperbolic to Make A Point lol

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

capaldi coded?!

#dw #60threwatch #or maybe more appropriately.. pertwee coded #the masters' multi-season arc is just improving their doctor cosplay

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

wondering how many years martha would been strung along if the year that never was hadn't happened

#it's about the (one part yearning and the other playing Hot n' Cold for decades) #also i lost some of my notes for s3 due to a blackout ): #one day i'll learn to not keep 10 unnamed notepad files per session today is not that day #60threwatch

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

obsessed with the only 5 seconds of face-to-face interaction ten and jacobi!master have

#finishing the s3 confidentials #pls can we get graeme harper again at least for 1 little jaunt #the man has such sensibility for getting the right iconic performances #60threwatch

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

one thing that's a bit ambiguous in human nature / family of blood + utopia is that it's not clear how much the "randomly generated life" that the fobwatch/TARDIS creates is up to the user. John Smith and Professor Yana seem like they almost hand-picked how they could be the most mirror-y to their OG selves, at the same time the writing wants us to think of them (Specially John Smith) as their own people...

#tennant says it is all 'random' but then u have yana say like 'the title of 'professor' is an affectation' #and 'i would have liked a bit of admiration' #and it gives u pause.... #60threwatch #dw

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

this poster in rose is quite intriguing. perhaps foreshadowing for the end of the world? if they're an imaginary design for an in-universe movie, they seem quite cryptic and indecipherable for that purpose. if they are just design reference to some early 00s uk pop culture thing.... i'm at a loss lol

#obligatory god tumblr's upload image system has become so broken moment #like 5 attempts just to upload these 2 png #dw #60threwatch #doctor who #tagging with the main tag in hopes someone can identify

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

dw rewatch - takes from "rose"

companion watch:

Rose kinda plays the role of Ian in this episode. Action man. Etc

When Nine exits the frame in the Famous Walking Single Shot and Rose is left befuddled, after a second, she runs back- but it’s too late. The TARDIS is gone. It’s OK though because she’ll get a second chance. This moment is then repeated again at the end, giving us an expectation for Rose’s choices and specially, their timing. And... Rose takes a while to take the plunge… but gets there in the end. This is the emotional arc of the episode. If there’s an "appeal" to this story, beyond aliens, comedy, and its weight.. on its own, the pull of "Rose" is inspiring bravery. As Rose will say later, it’s not about the adventures or the aliens or the wonder... “it’s about taking a stance and doing what’s right, when everyone else just runs away”.

And it’s true: no one wants to solve the issues at hand: Jackie is more concerned with compensation, Mickey says “leave him!” when Nine is about to be slurped in physchic plastic lava, and no one on earth seems to know what is going on. But Rose is there to show that we all have a part to play in history, we all have a call at some point to do what’s right and to act. Even if we’re afraid or widely out of our depths. This is what makes the first adventure click, it's a universal story.

- “I got the bronze” even at "most condecorated" stage, Rose's archivement are very mundane and down-to-earth.

- Jimmy Stone / The Doctor parallels? Perhaps...? She definitely swore off pursuing her A-levels after this adventure.

- With just a few pointed lines, we learn that Rose’s relationship with her mom has some friction. It’s not a day after she almost died and Jackie is already pushing Rose to look for another job. She won’t coddle her and will make that loud and clear. There’s also a bit of… resentment? envy? In how she says it’s good Rose lost her job at the shop because it was giving her “airs and graces” (!!). It seems she wants her succeed but not in a way that makes her leaver her (oh hello, Jackie’s arc, nice to meet you). Also this line: “ Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think I was her daughter.”

- At the same time, we get from this episode’s climax (with Rose’s moment being intercut with Jackie’s almost dying, almost as if the editing is suggesting she can feel her mom’s in danger) that... at this moment, she’s the most important person for Rose. Which is sweet, it's a complicated, real relationship.

Themes: - Bodies used and discarded, separation of physical bodies and consciousness. The Doctor inspiring people to do brave actions. Mundanity and the extraordinary. Internet Culture and Fandom. Environmental crisis (blink and you'll miss it). London as a cosmo-politan city. Diplomacy vs violence. - vigilante justice and underground wars. conspiracies. "Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on." A clear tension between the (relatively) comfy lives the Tylers live and the "world out there" that's burning in flames.

- Nine rumages over Rose’s living room, and this is how he finds her last name. Is this awkwardness? Or is this trying to “figure her out” in advance like Auton mystery? How much of this adventure was The Doctor inadvertly trying to impress her?. The Doctor as the maligned “shoot the messenger” trope.

Timeless Child Retroactive Continuity Bonus:

- Nine answers Rose by saying what he can do, not really who he is… or does he? what is the doctor but a title for someone whose entire identity is built around what they do (and not their memories, personalities or physicalities, as these are in constant flux)? Axiom 2 from this: the doctor's sense of self is only defined in the present moment. their sense of identity holds no permanence.

- The closest we get in the answer is the “I’m in despair” with a “if we let go…” what does it mean? We fall into the vacuum? We fall to existential despair, like Nine is right now after the Time War? Or perhaps that, like in Torchwood… “we’re moths clinging to the flame”, in the cosmic scale, all life is really, really small and really, really fragile.

- Could this space/time sixth-sens be a unique ability of the Doctor’s OG species? The mythology used to be that all time lords developed this sensibility to time, and that’s what allowed them to time travel. However, all other time lord characters dont seem to care very much about the universe around them. We know now that The Doctor has a special relationship to “Time”. Maybe, The Doctor’s gone so long assuming this is something every TL could do, when really is just something they could do.

Blorbos:

- Nine’s little “ok” when Rose’s turns him down TOT. Imagine taking a chance of being attached and vulnerable after being so traumatized and war-scarred and then. REJECTION. headcanon that that little eu gap is mostly him just processing this and getting the urge to ask the girl out again lol

- Nine and Rose hold hands so much here omg - Nine says he knew Mickey could survive but doesn’t confide this information to Rose. Was he trying to protect her feelings, in case it turned out Mickey was indeed dead? / - “Oh, I didn’t think about that”

Colonialism / Hegemony:

- The doctor shows a lot of prejudice to humans in this. And honestly, this gives me a lot of conflicting feelings. One thing I'm trying to do in this rewatch is keep a firm eye on the "white savior/colonialist fiction aesthetic/neoliberal power fantasy" spectrum of things and see what sort of things pop out. I think Nine's immediate "I'm so much Smarter and Intellectual THEREFORE I know what's best in Every situation" is a very good (bad) fuel to this strand of critique.

- but, it is narrative effective. it’s effective at showing us he’s quite full of himself, and humbling the viewer by telling them that hey, you don’t know everything that will happen in this show! - It also makes sense for Nine in particular to be this cynical, given what we know he's lived. But there’s also something a bit … grossly Victorian Intellectual about it. It feels like the pulpy DNA ethos, the one that comes from white “humanists” and “rationalists”, is very loud in those moments.

- In Dramatic Justice terms, The Doctor’s decision to seek a diplomatic solution comes at the cost Clive his life. Although we’re clearly meant to admire 9’s diplomacy, it is ultimately proven useless materially. But although there's an interest in reading the moment as virtuous, there's an ambiguity by Clive’s meta that in some ways The Doctor is a cause of destruction (which is a beat the series has never quite connected and I'll get to in s2... the timelords, and by extension, the doctor, were the cause of all these messes, but much like irl brittish imperialism and usa neoimperialism, the narrative is blind to their responsibility on the current mess).

- We learn the Nestene consciousness has high tech but not as high as the Time Lord’s (it gets scared by the TARDIS).

You cannot reason with an Invading force. That Nine attempts to do so without offering the Nastene any kind of deal, when he’s aware that they’re doing out of a need for Survival, for basic resources, seems almost like self-sabotage.

- Obviously, the implication is that humanity has caused this by being so damn contaminating. But The Nastene could’ve just eaten all the plastic and toxins honestly, would’ve done us a favor. Possibility for a symbiotic episode one day in the future?

#60threwatch #dw #dw meta #nvmd me just trying to get through my backlog of previous takes that i didnt post skdlfj #idk why the formatting bullet points dont work in most of the thing #sorry tumblr is really weird with bullet points

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

a lot of people (esp people who didn't vibe with ten's story) really hate the "i never would" moment. First for finding it hypocrital ("the doctor's done worse!") and second for it being melodramatic / sanctimonious. (And imo there's a third aspect not talked as much... which is that it just doesn't Hit As Hard to see our main character lose it over a Character Of The Day that, charming as she is, we've only spend 40 minutes with.) tbh I honestly do Get some of these complaints. I think also the moment could Hit Better if the episode it's in was a bit more coherent*. And I think the show is kind of not successful sometimes in juggling... well, the Contractual Obligation as a family show on a publicly funded-network, to not be something that celebrates violence ("only idiots use knives") with the actual Watsonian reality of doctor who, which is super violent, with a high-body, and where The Doctor (in all eras) is a very vindictive, punitive person. I think there's a tension there that sometimes like in this moment comes forth and creates a dissonance that people can be repelled by.

That said ... I do think, honestly, it works 80%. I think this scene is Good Mostly and I'm glad it exists.

'Cause lbr, this had to happen at some point. And it is always going to be an Important scene. And from a purely arc-specific POV, I think it does work when people can put themselves in the shoes of Ten (in being Absolutely Done With This Shit (tm) lol), and.... imo that's why his arc works.

(some) People get pretty mad that he could even be tempted to not save Wilf / save his own skin on ToE, but honestly,,, that and moments like this, where the mask falls and he loses it... but pulls back? that's the good shit. It's seeing the "good guy" character do the good thing he *doesn't want to do* but doing it anyway that makes it compelling an admirable. (*)tbh i don't think it is a bad episode, it's a Could Have Been Better Episode. regardless though it's imo an important episode for the show's lore.... but yes, it is kind of over-stuffed, and Martha should've had more focus since it's her last episode as companion, so this in theory was the last moment to center on her and close some of her arcs with ten. and there is some stuff, but not enough. overall tho is one of the best Donna episodes)

#also seeing ten do a Shouting is always so good #he never looks dignified doing it lol #but it's also lowkey scary #but also lowkey not #bc he's extremely transparently frigile in those moments #dw #meta #60threwatch

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

oh to be forever immortalized in doctor who confidential like livejournal user doyle_sb4

#the dream honestly #dw #60threwatch

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

"OUR genocide <3"

#dw #60threwatch #one thing that makes this episode not quite gel together (for me) even tho all the ingredients Are there #it's that it's i think a Too Many Hats situation #or in this case 2 many moral dilemmas #i think 'donna tries to warn everyone in pompeii about the volcano and the doctor tries to stop her' #is a strong enough premise for 48 minutes of Episode #instead of fire bionicles we could have spent more time with twelve's family and meeting all the little happy pompeiians tdestined to Burn #that said .... this is another one that surprisingly gave me more The Timeless Child juice than expected so that's good! #but yeah this is one of those rare 'el ministerio del tiempo would've done it better' cases lol

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

ok so tbf from what i remember i think lucy Pulling The Trigger was a satisfying bow to the storyline. but damn. imagine if martha had offed the master. that would have been fun.

#lol similarly my other take for human nature was WHAT IF MARTHA HAD JUST KILLED JOHN SMITH (aka she opened the watch against his will) #basically i think Martha Jones should get to do a Little Murder. As a Treat. #i know i know it's a family show but- ngl i want it #60threwatch #dw #sdflkj i wonder if this is gonna be another thing where im like 'there should be fic for this!' #and then it turns out there is in some lost live journal community

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

(early) torchwood and facism

#making a separate post of it so i can reference it on my meta for the episode #footnotes tumblr style lol #dw #bro i really wasnt expecting s2 to have so much colonialism meta juice in it but once you notice it ... it really is everywhere #there's some stuff on the impossible planet as well #which ill also explain later lol #for now have these caps and know there's Thoughts coming up #60threwatch #dw meta #oh yeah there's some stories set in 'torchwood india' right in the eu? #i wonder if they do anything with this stuff

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

tiers for s1 + s2 on my rewatch

#60threwatch #dw #dw meta #'wah wah s2 is so weak' bro what are u even going on about s2 is full of bangers??? #legitimately wtf are people goingo n about #(and by people i mean /r/gallifrey sdlkjdfskl) #it *was* harder to rank tho bc i felt i was being too harsh on all the cybermen episodes #i feel they *could* be higher and maybe even fear her #but i dont know i do feel they were... less ambiguous maybe? s1 feels more strange. more undefined. #but those cybermen arc episodes for better or for worse are pretty clean cut on what they're about #i also think there's an interesting on how s1 def feels like a 90s show while s2 onwards feels 00s #maybe it's just the more polished production but it does affect the aesthetic experience 4 me #tbh i also should have made a new GOD tier for school reunion #literally i do not think new who would be what it is without this episode

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

making 2 connections re: Martha's attraction to Ten

from dw:confidential s3.11: Chipo Chung (Chantho) says re: her attraction to Yana: "I feel really sorry for her because she is this blue insect creature in the midst of all these humans she loves, but being the last of her species (….) she's like poor George, old George, the last tortoise who can't find his mate. So she's attached to this person who's very much a father figure- but also, I just don't think she has any relationship to any of the other humans."

with the last line… I think of Tish's comment in The Lazarus Experiment:

TISH: You look great. So, what do you think? Impressive, isn't it? MARTHA: Very. TISH: And two nights out in a row for you. That's dangerously close to a social life.

and for the other bit, this exchange from The Poison Sky:

DONNA: You know, that coat sort of works. MARTHA: I feel like a kid in my dad's clothes. DONNA: Oh well, if you're calling him dad, you're definitely getting over him.

And of course, Martha's dad being a guy who cheats on his wife with a much younger, blond woman whom he drives around on a shiny sports car.

#the first thing... and also the second thing actually sdlkfj #are funnily very yaz-coded as well............... #anyways im still. finishing my rewatch sfsd sorry im not in In The Loop yet... but i'm halfway thru s4 now! #maybe in a week or so i'll be in the year 2023 of dw discourse like everyone else and not time-stuck lol #60threwatch #dw

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

this episode really Spells it out lol

DOCTOR: I wouldn't have thought you had time for poetry, Lazarus, what with you being busy defying the laws of nature and all. LAZARUS: You're right, Doctor. One lifetime's been too short for me to do everything I'd like. How much more I'll get done in two or three or four. DOCTOR: Doesn't work like that. Some people live more in twenty years than others do in eighty. It's not the time that matters, it's the person. LAZARUS: But if it's the right person, what a gift that would be. DOCTOR: Or what a curse. Look at what you've done to yourself. LAZARUS: Who are you to judge me?

#lazarus and cassandra out here trying to see who can narratively foil the doctor THE MOST #dw #it's a tight race #60threwatch #14 #gotta tag it when u see it